School needs $1.6 million to remain open

Students at Wellington Christian School are stuck in a confusing and worrisome holding pattern this week, unsure if they’ll be able to continuing attending their private school amid funding problems and the threat of a shutdown.

Parents, teachers, and students held a fundraiser Saturday night to raise money for the struggling school. Administrators said the school needs $1.6 million to keep the high school open next year. The deadline is next week.

“My own daughter was making bracelets trying to raise money to keep it going,” said Headmaster Timothy Sansbury, who admits it will take a lot more than a simple bake sale to save the Christian high school.

“It's going to take a few people saying, ‘We want this. And want to make it happen’,” he said.

Parents, who helped organize the benefit concert, worry that their children won’t be able to easily adjust to public school life.

“They've grown up here. This is what they know,” said Lainie Guthrie, who has a son attending the high school. “We have children in the high school now that won't be able to graduate from the school they grew up in.”

Many of the students would have to transfer to new schools next year, including rising-seniors who would have to graduate in a different school in their final year.

“I'm actually really scared,” said Lauren, a middle-schooler who would like to attend the private high school. “I'm shy, so if I go to a new school I’m worried I’ll be the lonely girl in the corner.”

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